A Proposition 2 1/2 tax override may be necessary in order for the town to both afford higher costs and avoid service cuts next year, according to Town Administrator Dennis Luttrell.

By Grant Welker

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

By Grant Welker

Posted Jan. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 7, 2012 at 7:00 AM

By Grant Welker

Posted Jan. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 7, 2012 at 7:00 AM

SOMERSET

» Social News

A Proposition 2 1/2 tax override may be necessary in order for the town to both afford higher costs and avoid service cuts next year, according to Town Administrator Dennis Luttrell.

Though planning for fiscal 2013 has just begun, Luttrell said potential budget increases — especially for the School Department — could make a tax increase necessary. He wrote to department heads this week advising them to keep next year’s budgets at the same level as the current year, which would likely lead to cuts as departments balance unavoidable cost increases in utilities, supplies and other expenses.

“We just keep our fingers crossed, and hope for the best and do what we can,” Police Chief Joseph Ferreira said Friday. The Police Department, whose current-year budget is $2.5 million, has been able so far to keep costs down without making cuts in personnel or other vital areas, he said.

School Superintendent Richard Medeiros is scheduled to present his proposed fiscal 2013 K-8 budget on Jan. 19, and HIS regional high school budget on Jan. 26. Ann Correira, the chairwoman of the Somerset School Committee, said she didn’t know yet what next year’s budgets might look like.

“For us, it’s early in the game,” she said.

Selectmen said they’d like next year’s budgets to keep costs down.

“I’d like to see them as close to what they were this year as possible,” Arastou Mahjoory said. Luttrell gave a message to department heads echoing the board’s sentiment.

Town Accountant Joseph Bolton said it’s too early in the budget planning process to him to know for sure whether a Proposition 2 1/2 override may be necessary. Key variables, such as state aid, won’t be known for some time, he said.

State aid has already fallen in recent years. In fiscal 2012, Somerset was given $1.2 million in general state aid, a drop from nearly $1.9 million five years prior.

Proposition 2 1/2 is a state restriction that limits tax levy increases in cities and towns to no more than 2.5 percent in a given year. An increase over that amount must be approved by voters.

Somerset voters approved a similar move, called a debt exclusion, that allows the town to temporarily raise the tax levy to pay for the new Somerset Berkley Regional High School. The debt exclusion will last for the length of the borrowing term for the project, estimated at 27 years.

Only last month, voters approved spending $5.2 million in savings to help offset an increase in the tax rate for fiscal 2012. The Advisory and Finance Committee recommended roughly half that amount be taken from reserves, with Chairman Christopher Godet saying the committee was worried about keeping enough savings for the coming years.